Sunday, September 30, 2007

A personal hero of mine has his memoirs out this week. "My Grandfather's Son" is Clarence Thomas writing about his life. As part of the media blitz, Jan Crawford Greenburg writes a multipart story for ABC news based on the book and 7 hours of interviews with the current Supreme Court justice.

Sixteen years after the bitter confirmation hearings that would forever put the name "Anita Hill" in any story written about him, Thomas remains one of the most compelling and divisive figures in public life. That is both ironic and inevitable for a man who, on the surface, appears to be a study in conflicts. He is black, but a conservative. He is contrarian and independent, but wants deeply to connect with people. He holds a job he never wanted, but has strong ideas about how to do it. He fiercely protects his privacy, but has written a book that is intensely personal and, at times, anguished.

The stories by Jan Greenburg are enlightening because Justice Thomas is fiercely protective of his private life. His formative years growing up in the South when it was transitioning from the Jim Crow era to integration are particularly interesting. His grandfather would make him stand up in weekly NAACP meetings to read his grades aloud. As a black activist in college, he admired Malcolm X.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

It looks like Dr. Paul's campaign will hit a million dollars in online donations within the next few hours. This does not include any contributions mailed in or from fundraisers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the MSM. The pace set by Ron Paul's campaign this week puts him squarely in the range of John Edwards, Mike Richardson, and probably John McCain.

The end of the 3rd quarter is coming up and with a goal set this past Monday to reach $500,000 in online donations by Monday October 1st, Dr. Paul supporters surpassed that goal in 3 days. This showed up in my inbox from the campaign:

Frankly, I'm floored. And very, very grateful. Our $500,000 online fundraising goal for the end of the quarter was reached so fast it took my breath away. But we can't stop now. So I am raising the bar to $1 million by midnight, September 30th. I am so grateful for all you have done. Would you help me with this?

Whenever I face a hit piece on tv, or a smear in a newspaper column, I remember my secret weapon: you. In establishment politics, people make campaign contributions because they want something: a contract, a subsidy, a special-interest deal. But the thousands of people who contribute to this campaign want no favors from big government -- which must come at the expense of their fellow citizens, and sometimes our soldiers' lives. They want only what is their God-given, natural, and constitutional right: their freedom.

What a difference from the other campaigns. What a refreshing change from politics as usual. What a sign of the reborn American freedom that can be ours, and our children's, and our grandchildren's.

Aggressive wars, income taxes, national IDs, domestic spying, torture regimes, secret prisons, Federal Reserve manipulation -- we don't have to take it any more.

And the next step to not taking it is that $1 million goal. Please give www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/ as much as you can, before midnight on Sunday, September 30th.

There are two reasons: 1) We need the money. As we move into the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, then South Carolina, California, Texas, and all the rest, we need your support. We can't duplicate the spending of the big boys, and we don't have to, thanks to the internet and our magnificent army of volunteers.

But we need constant website improvements, phone banks, voter registration and get out the vote efforts, mailings, travel, printings, many small offices, targeted TV and radio ads, legal and accounting help, and 101 other things. And without donors like you, we can't do a darn thing.

2) I want to make the mainstream media sit up and take notice. They did when we beat John McCain for cash-on-hand in the last quarter. This quarter, we can really shock them -- if you help. Our total can show the sort of enthusiasm, organization, and grassroots support that will chill every big-government backer, and warm the heart of every lover of freedom -- and open the eyes of the media.

Please, help me win a victory for liberty with your most generous gift. You and I are engaged in an historic enterprise. It is growing in power and influence by the day and by the hour. But it will stutter to a stop without people like you. I need your help. Our cause needs your help. We can make $1 million. We can win this thing. Please help me do it. See our progress and donate�today:� http://www.ronpaul2008.com/ .

Friday, September 28, 2007

A hot blonde who likes to walk around in her underwear, drinks beer, advocates free market economics, is against the welfare state and supports Ron Paul? If I weren't emotionally unavailable because of my past relationships (which were all based on the physical anyway, since I'm so ridiculously rich and handsome) I'd be in love:

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Pat Buchanan weighs in on Ahmadinejad and his visit to the US this week:

It would be an obscenity, we are told, if Ahmadinejad were allowed to place a wreath at Ground Zero. This is a public relations stunt that should never be permitted.

That the Iranian president has PR in mind is undoubtedly true. Much of what national leaders do is symbolic. But that wreath-laying would have said something else, as well.

It would have said that, to Iran, these Americans were victims who deserve to be honored and mourned and, by extension, the men who killed them were murderers. Bin Laden celebrates 9-11. So do all America-haters. By laying a wreath at Ground Zero, the president of Iran would be saying that in the war between al-Qaida and the United States, he and his country side with the United States.

Which I can't say I disagree with. The rhetoric we've heard from Bush since his "Axis of Evil" speech has been one of provocation. But does Iran represent a direct threat to us? Maybe to our military that is in Iraq he is, but follow Pat's reasoning on what would compel Iran to seek nuclear weapons:

After seeing what America did to its non-nuclear neighbor Iraq, which had done nothing to America, and after hearing Bush call them an axis-of-evil nation and prime candidate for U.S. pre-emptive strikes, a not-unreasonable ayatollah might conclude they need nuclear weapons, or the Americans will be dictating to them forever.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

So I made a prediction a few months back about the economy collapsing like a house of cards. The ensuing months has seen a lot of turbulence with the Fed cutting rates and making more credit available, the shakeout from the subprime mortgage market not being over, the growing trend of weakness of the dollar versus the Euro. The real inflation rate being pegged at around 10-15 percent. We are witnessing a perfect storm brewing. It isn't going to be pretty.

Turns out I'm not the only one, some anonymous parties are wagering that the economy is going to tank (via Money Morning):

Insiders trade when they know something. They’re not supposed to, but they do anyway. It’s just a fact of life.

Most of the time, it’s pretty petty-ante stuff, but occasionally a trade comes along that makes even jaded professionals like me sit up and take notice.

Just such a trade surfaced last Wednesday when anonymous parties agreed to buy and sell 120,000 SPY September call options using deep-in the-money strikes ranging from 60 to 95.

What does all that mean? The people behind this transaction are betting that by September 21st, the S&P will be trading between 600 and 950. It closed at 1519 yesterday, which is a drop between 35-60%. The article goes further and talks about possible motivations for the trade (I think the China dumping dollars scenario is VERY plausible).

For the longest time, I just didn't think that Jon Stewart was very funny. I still don't but what he has done is become court jester and he does get to ask questions that no one gets to ask. This is a really good but all too brief interview with ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan whose book "The Age of Turbulence" has just been released.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Rainbow Family literally are a bunch of hippies who have an annual "Gathering of the Tribes" in Colorado. While I could care less what hippies do or how they live their lives what piqued my interest was this little nugget from the New West:

The Rainbowers refuse to sign the USFS's free permit for gatherings of 75 or more people, saying "Our permit is the First Amendment."

That's awesome and proves the adage about even a clock being right twice a day.

Monday, September 17, 2007

I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand, I have been a fan of Dr. Keyes because he's a Constitutional scholar who has taken consistent positions on following the founding father's advice on limited federal government. In fact, his article "On the establishment of religion: What the Constitution really says" is one of the most eloquent defense of states rights that I have read. I forward it to people all the time. His short lived MSNBC show was a favorite of mine (it was the first time I had ever heard anyone make a Constitutional argument for putting the military to work on the border).

On the other hand, when he runs for office, he's like Susan Lucci, the Buffalo Bills, and the dude who just wants to be friends with chicks because eventually they'll grow to be attracted to him all rolled into one. They all never get to grab the brass ring. He lost to Obama for the Illinois Senate seat by capturing only 30% of the vote (Obama literally got the other 70%).

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I don't make any secret about where my vote and support is going, and maybe if Dr. Paul weren't running I'd throw my vote to Dr. Keyes. But Alan Keyes just doesn't generate the same sort of visceral reaction that Dr. Paul gets (good and bad). Hearing Dr. Ron Paul's message sounds right. When he takes a position say on the war on drugs, he defends it by saying that yes, there may be negative consequences to ending the drug war. But, following Ben Franklin's timeless dictum "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." What price in liberty have we paid for "safety" in the war on drugs? On the war on terror? Maybe the reason that people are flocking to his campaign realize we are getting to the point where we are ending up with neither liberty or safety.

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When a thousand Republicans are in a room and one man of the eight on the stage takes a sharply minority viewpoint on a dramatic issue and half the roomseems to cheer him, something's going on.

Dr. Paul has always said that it is the message that is important. To see someone say things on national TV what I have thought for years literally makes my jaw drop, and I never get tired of hearing it. Apparently I'm not the only one.

I don't know how he's been able to stay on the air for so long. But he has outlasted Jerry Springer, Rikki Lake, Richard Bey, and about a half dozen other talk shows. On top of that, he's married to Connie Chung. Cameltap has a list of the 10 ten moments from Maury Povich. Here is my personal favorite and their #2:

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick today defended his controversial warrantless wiretapping program in a combative press conference, calling the practice "an essential tool in the war on other teams."

He goes on:

There are teams out there that hate our way of life, our way of winning and are bent on defeating us. We must take any and all measures to avoid that outcome.

No Bill, people don't hate you because of your way of life. People hate you because your cameras are over there...

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I do, my roommate woke me up and had the TV turned on. The first tower had just been hit. The first word out of my mouth after watching the news I said under my breath was "bastards". My first thought was we were under attack. There's no such thing as "accidently" running into a 110 story building. I showered, got into my car and drove to work. I don't remember if I hit the usual traffic on the freeway. It seems to me that I was listening to the news on the radio the whole way down and really wasn't observing what was going on around me.

Getting to the office, that's all everyone was talking about. The news of the second tower getting hit was coming around so a group of us went to the gym that was downstairs to watch the TV in front of the treadmill. News of the plane that was hijacked and eventually crash into the ground in Pennsylvania was coming around as well as the plane that was flown into the Pentagon. We were hit, and hit hard. The enormity of the events hadn't really sunk in for me yet, but the dread and uncertainty that I felt that day I haven't felt since.

Eventually, we were all allowed to go home. It must have been around 10 am. I remember a friend of mine who is in the military calling me. She had just heard the news from the phone tree that put her and her unit on alert. She would eventually serve a year in Iraq and survive an IED attack and ambush on her convoy. Thankfully, she wasn't injured or captured.

So here we are, 6 years later. The "War on Terror" rages on, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, but mostly here. The debate in this country among the political classes isn't even about Al Qaida anymore. It's whether the "surge" is working or not. It's whether Congress should keep funding the military operations in Iraq. It's how much of our civil liberties have we given up in exchange for "safety".

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What's lost in all the chatter is how come after all this time, Bin Laden is still sending IM's to the world. Apparently $50 million isn't enough to have his head handed to us on a platter. Shouldn't we keep raising the bounty on his head a la Mel Gibson's character in "Ransom" til someone fedex's us his rotting head? I keep getting told we are the richest country in the world. Shouldn't his ransom be up to about a billion dollars by now? That's chump change to us.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Pavarotti died this week. Not that I'm a follower or fan of opera, but if he's famous enough and respected enough around the world that his passing made headlines around the world, I thought I'd see what the big deal was about:

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Tara reads books (not real books like "Basic Economics" or "The Federal Mafia" or "The Supremacists" but she's a chick, so she has books about interpreting dreams and stuff. I'll give her a pass anyway.)